


give me a reason (to not stab your back)

by guiltylights



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Post-Punk Hazard Arc, Post-Time Skip, Pre-Dressrosa, Pre-Dressrosa Law will always be angsting, Robin and Law interacting is too many braincells in one place, also this fic has a bit of Law angsting but like, and that's all you guys need to know about this fic, just a little something scene I've had in mind for a while, the working title of this fic was "Law gets threatened by the Straw-Hat Pirates"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 23:22:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20397844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guiltylights/pseuds/guiltylights
Summary: Law cuts his gaze to directly across the dining table, to where Nico Robin has deliberately seated herself right in front of him. She’s sipping calmly at her drink (conscientiously prepared by Black-Leg, if the fruit wedges cut into hearts and excessively swirly straw are any indication). Sensing the weight of his gaze, Nico Robin looks up and meets Law’s eye, and smiles; Law merely narrows his eyes for a second, before looking away.I know you don’t trust me,is what Law’s gaze says.I know you know that I know that,is what Robin’s smile says in response.When Law’s proposal for a pirate alliance gets accepted by a beaming Straw-Hat, Law is under no illusions.





	give me a reason (to not stab your back)

**Author's Note:**

> [Time started: 24th Aug 19, 8:03pm;– ] 
> 
> Me, chanting: STRAW-HAT PIRATE CREW LOYALTY HOURS STRAW-HAT PIRATE CREW LOYALTY HOURS. I love the fierce devotion the Straw-Hat pirate crew always has to their captain Luffy and you can pry my fics about that dynamic out of my cold dead hands. Also in one of my previous fics I realise I wrote precisely the same three people with Law in a dining room scene as well, and I’m not sure what that means but it’s Something. Chopper is here too I guess, but he doesn’t speak, and I make him totter off the scene in like a page so was he here really. I’m sorry Chopper I love you. 
> 
> I really don’t have enough brain cells to write the kind of cryptic, loaded conversation that two intellectuals like Robin and Law would have. If they seem dumber than they would be in canon it’s because I’M dumb, and I apologise for that.

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When Law’s proposal for a pirate alliance gets accepted by a beaming Straw-Hat, Law is under no illusions.

After all of Punk Hazard is said and done with and they’re onboard the Straw-Hat pirate crew’s ship on their way to Dressrosa, Law finds himself sitting down for a _meal _with the Straw-Hat pirates, of all things. It’s a noisy and chaotic affair, full of screeching and fights over the last piece of chicken joint on the table as the incorrigible Straw-Hat sneaks his hands across the table and blatantly steals people’s meat off their plates, and it’s possibly the most wholesome thing Law has ever witnessed in a long, long while. But Law isn’t stupid. The atmosphere in the dining room now may be relaxed and happy, but Law knows better than to presume that it means that the Straw-Hat pirates have come around to trusting him. Maybe Straw-Hat has, in that way of his where he takes one look at someone and declares them “good” or “bad” based on some arbitrary metric that seems to make sense to no one but him, but the rest of the Straw-Hat pirates aren’t as easy to win over.

Law cuts his gaze to directly across the dining table, to where Nico Robin has deliberately seated herself right in front of him. She’s sipping calmly at her drink (conscientiously prepared by Black-Leg, if the fruit wedges cut into hearts and excessively swirly straw are any indication). Sensing the weight of his gaze, Nico Robin looks up and meets Law’s eye, and smiles; Law merely narrows his eyes for a second, before looking away.

_I know you don’t trust me, _is what Law’s gaze says.

_I know you know that I know that, _is what Robin’s smile says in response.

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When dinner is over, the other Straw-Hats leave the table quickly. While Straw-Hat himself bounds excitedly out of the door, ready to burn off whatever energy he has accumulated from the meal and then some, the rest of the crew filter off more slowly; seemingly innocuously, but Law knows better. The last to exit, green-haired swordsman and pirate crew first mate Zoro shoots his remaining crewmembers in the dining room a look that is loaded in its meaning; but Nico Robin only smiles warmly back in response, and Zoro seems to take that as reassurance enough to turn around and stride out into the open deck. Now, the only ones left in the dining room apart from Law are Black-Leg, who is cleaning the dishes, Dr. Tony, who had volunteered to help, the long-nosed sniper, who ostentatiously stayed back to “work on his inventions”, and Nico Robin, sitting calmly at the table drinking a cup of tea.

Law leans back in his own seat and crosses his arms over his chest. He briefly considers taking a quick doze, but that seems just a touch too disrespectful even for him. He _is _here to make an alliance after all, not enemies. That being said, though, he’s damn well not going to be the one to start this conversation. It’s one thing to have to face the lion’s den, another to walk right into it.

Nico Robin sets her teacup down.

‘So. Torao.’

Law twitches at the nickname.

The amused smile that tugs at the corner of Nico Robin’s lips tells Law that the use of the bothersome nickname had been completely intentional. Law scowls. 

‘Torao.’ Nico Robin repeats. ‘What are your intentions?’

‘My intentions.’ Law deadpans.

‘Yes.’

At the sink, Black-Leg pauses briefly in putting away a plate, before resuming his activity. Long-Nose glances warily from between Law and Nico Robin from his vantage point by the door, and Dr. Tony, nestled in Long-Nose’s lap to watch him work on his slingshot after having been shooed away with good grace by Black-Leg from the dishes, peers out curiously from between the sniper’s arms. They don’t say anything at all, however. Deferring, Law sees. The leader of this conversation on the Straw-Hat pirate crew’s side seems to be Nico Robin, for this round.

Law thinks about the question for a moment. ‘A bit of a general question to start off with, don’t you think?’ He shoots back, instead. ‘I was expecting something much more…pointed.’

Robin lifts up one shoulder delicately. ‘Possibly,’ she allows. ‘But none of them have as important an answer as this question does, so I’ll ask again, Torao.

‘What are your intentions with this alliance, and with our captain?’

Well, it seems feigning ignorance to what she could be referring to is out of the question, then. Law licks his lips as he casts about his mind for an appropriate and satisfactory answer.

‘My intentions are exactly what I’ve told Straw-Hat,’ Law says, eventually. _Nothing more, and nothing less._ ‘I have a plan to take down one of the Four Emperors, and our chances of success are maximised if we work together. That’s all there is to it.’

The fact that they can take down Doflamingo in the process is an added bonus, but well, that’s not something Straw-Hat nor his crew needs to know.

Nico Robin regards him for a moment. She purses her lips.

‘Why Luffy in particular?’ She asks.

And here Law pauses.

‘Because—’

There’s a silence teetering in the room as Law chooses his next words carefully.

‘Because your captain has created miracles.’ Law says, at last. ‘Because I’ve seen Straw-Hat face impossible odds and win, and I think his tenacity is what is needed to win this fight.’

It’s an honest answer that Law gave, but it’s not the only answer. The darker part of the answer is that it’s a frankly suicidal mission that Law has embarked himself on, and while teaming up with Straw-Hat may exponentially increase his chances of survivability that didn’t mean that the chances of success aren’t still incredibly, impossibly small. Law is a pirate. He’s lived his life on foolhardy decisions and the slimmest of chances, but that doesn’t cancel out the fact that he’s now very willingly dragging someone else into a situation with him where the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against their favour and where there is a very real possibility that they might die. A voice in Law’s head argues that he had _asked _Straw-Hat to be part of the alliance and had therefore given him a chance to reject his plan fair and square, but Law privately thinks that that’s a moot point anyway. The fact that he put out the plan in the first place betrays his arguably selfish intent. And besides, Straw-Hat didn’t seem the type to truly grasp the extent of a danger.

And there’s another part of the answer that Law doesn’t give. _Why Luffy. _Why Straw-Hat? Law shifts his grip on his sword, tugs at the brim of his hat, and thinks about Marineford.

_Because I remember your captain from two years ago, from when he had suffered the worst loss he probably has ever had in his life, and I remember how he managed to come back from it anyway. Because I witnessed first-hand the enormity of the grief and tragedy Straw-Hat had shouldered and knew that, more than anyone else, should I come to trust him with my and Doflamingo’s bloodied history he would understand my feelings better than most. Because it’s an ugly type of understanding that binds those of us who lost someone loved and precious to us the way we did, and if anything even if he wouldn’t understand my need for revenge he would understand my need for closure. _

But Law doesn’t say any of that. For one, because he’s here to make alliances, not make enemies. And another, because he thinks that the enigmatic woman seated across from him has already guessed anyway.

‘Luffy trusts you.’ Nico Robin says, carefully, and the neutral expression on her face is all the more dangerous for how deliberately poker-faced it is. At the door, Long-Nose bends to murmur something into Dr. Tony’s ear, and Dr. Tony nods and hops out of the sniper’s lap to toddle his way towards the dining room’s back door. ‘And because Luffy trusts you, we have decided that we will trust you too. Not just because Luffy is our captain; past history has shown that whoever Luffy tends to believe are good people _are_ usually actually good people in the end, and we’re willing to stay and see whether that is the case with you.’

Law says nothing to that.

‘But make no mistake, Torao.’ The use of the ridiculous nickname does nothing to dampen the chill of the threat curling around Nico Robin’s words, quietly spoken though they may be. ‘Make one wrong move, take one step in the wrong direction, give us any reason to believe that you may be a threat to Luffy in any way, and we won’t hesitate to take any counter-measures.’

Nico Robin’s statement only confirms Law’s suspicions that the way the four Straw-Hat pirates have positioned themselves in the room is no coincidence. With the sniper at the front door, the cook in the kitchen, Nico Robin at the table, and now with Dr. Tony who has just disappeared through the back door into his infirmary, every possible escape route and door has effectively been blocked and sealed off. Of course, Law could just use his Devil Fruit to escape from this situation, but this is a crew that made shockwaves through the world with their audacity and lived long enough to enter the New World; it’s not guaranteed that his powers would grant him success of survival. Though Law wonders a little at using the sniper for guarding the most essential escape point. The man currently looks to be shaking like a leaf. 

Surrounded by dangerous people on all sides who have more or less told him that they can and will kill him should he ever prove himself detrimental to their captain currently playing tag with the skeletal musician outside, Law only tips his head to the side and blinks.

‘Are you threatening me?’ Law asks, mildly.

Law has no doubt that Nico Robin is serious. But well, if something as simple as a threat could’ve stopped him in his tracks, he would’ve given up on being a pirate ages ago.

‘Oh, absolutely not, Torao. To threaten you would be to imply you have already done something, which you have not.’ The utter confidence Nico Robin has in uttering that fact has Law feeling like he _wants _to go do something now, if only to be a contrary bastard. ‘Consider this instead a pre-warning of sorts.’

‘Those are essentially the same thing.’ Law points out.

‘The difference between them may be a hairs-breadth, but it is an important distinction all the same.’ Nico Robin says, smiling benignly. Her smiles are a weapon, Law has come to realise; her intentions are tucked away secretive and hidden in the corners of her mouth, and it’s impossible to tell at first meeting whether she is smiling sincerely or whether she is hiding skeletons in the closets of her smile. The only reason why Law can even begin to tell a difference at all is because Law has seen the way Nico Robin, devil child of the seas and wanted fugitive from the age of eight, acts around Straw-Hat Luffy; laughter so light and smile so carefree it is as if she has never known a world of hurt. And even then, the difference is so minute to him that Law can barely catch it.

Law glances out of the window, to where he can see Straw-Hat Luffy frolicking through the deck green as their orange-haired navigator bellows angrily about a spilled drink. Law then glances back at Nico Robin, who is still watching him with eyes sharp and mouth curved like a knife; Black-Leg rounds the kitchen counter and collects Nico Robin’s teacup from in front of her.

Law barely moves.

He has zero to no intention in actually harming Straw-Hat, really; he only acts because he wants to test exactly how deep the Straw-Hat pirates’ devotion to their captain runs, and because he wants to test just how strong the crew that has rallied around the unpredictable supernova captain actually is. So, Law notches Kikoku out of its sheath. But he barely gets even an inch of steel clear.

The effect is instantaneous. Suddenly Black-Leg, who had been on the opposite side of the table what seems like only mere seconds ago, is in front of Law looming long as a shadow, having neatly vaulted over the table in the time it took for Law to blink. One of Black-Leg’s leg is raised; the heel of his left shoe pushes down and against the guard of Kikoku, keeping it unsheathed and in its scabbard. The way Black-Leg holds himself makes it look like the movement is nothing at all, but Law, holding Kikoku, can feel the crushing pressure that is vibrating along the sword. At the same time, hands have sprouted themselves like flowers from Law’s shoulders, the sides of his chair, the floor, and have fastened themselves tight around his limbs and body, holding him to his seat and keeping him there. Law can’t move his head too much because of that, but out from the corner of his eyes, he can see a slingshot pulled back and aimed right in his direction, in the place where Long-Nose is, and Law takes back his previous doubts about having the sniper be in charge of guarding the door; Long-Nose may shake, but his hands are sure and steady, and Law knows that the sniper will not miss.

‘We’ll kill you where you stand,’ Black-Leg says, quietly, the only thing he has said in this entire conversation, and it is more so a declaration rather than a threat.

Law doesn’t try to break out or struggle.

‘Is your captain that important?’ Is all he asks. It’s Nico Robin who answers, though Law cannot see her figure, hidden behind Black-Leg’s as it is.

‘Of course,’ she says, without hesitation, without doubt, her faith and her love steady as the tide is to the shore, ‘Luffy is our captain. We will follow him wherever he chooses to lead.’

And that gives Law all the information he really needs. The Straw-Hat pirate crew are people he can rely on.

The Straw-Hat pirates loosen their hold on Law. The arms disappear from around Law’s body in a flurry of petals, Black-Leg lifts his leg off of Kikoku and takes the teacup back to the kitchen, and Long-Nose lowers his slingshot and goes back to tinkering with it with the various tools laid out on the floor. Law dusts himself off, very carefully adjusts Kikoku so that it rests more securely against his shoulder (he doesn’t miss the way the air in the room snags for a second before smoothing out again when he does that), and raises an eyebrow in the direction of the woman sitting across from him.

_I don’t plan on doing anything to your captain, _is what that expression means.

Nico Robin merely tips her head in his direction in response. _We’ll see for ourselves whether you are telling the truth, _is what she replies. It is both a reassurance and a warning.

‘I don’t think your captain would believe in threatening me as part of this new alliance.’ Law says.

‘Luffy would never,’ Nico Robin agrees. ‘But that doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t do it.’

Law smirks. ‘You would work behind your captain?’

Nico Robin laughs then, and it’s a pleased sound, one that can only be achieved when parties of a conversation achieve perfect understanding and know that they have. ‘This isn’t treason if that’s what you’re worried about, but thank you for your concern, Torao.’

‘Hm.’

They’ve achieved understanding to a compromise, but as Law gets up from the table Law doesn’t miss the way Long-Nose’s grip on his weapon—which has not loosened the entire time Law has been in the dining room—finally relaxes, nor does he miss the way Black-Leg’s feet finally shift themselves to face the cook fully towards the sink instead of pointing him always half a step away from turning around when Law heads for the door. Nico Robin also chooses to use her powers to grow a hand from the crook of Law’s elbows to open the door leading out to the deck of the ship for him. Dangerous woman, that.

The actions are all little but significant. Law pauses at the door and looks back over his shoulder. And devil child Nico Robin is there to meet his gaze when he does, smiling serenely, comfortingly, warningly.

_We don’t trust you, _is what that smile says. _So give us a reason to. _

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**Author's Note:**

> Robin’s use of her powers as part of everyday help has always been interesting to me. Of course, now that she’s with a crew she loves and trusts when she helps it’s probably because she genuinely WANTS to do that, but Robin has always used her powers to wash dishes or hold things or prevent someone from falling over even when she doesn’t trust the people she is with. I’ve always thought she did that both as a reassurance and a warning. A reassurance to the people she’s working with that she’s helpful and will continue to be so (even in the little things), but also a warning that she can extend her powers to grow on even the most vulnerable parts of a person and therefore “do not cross me”. It’s extremely unnerving to know that you and your neck can be within someone’s grasp even when said person is very far away, don’t you think? 
> 
> Also note that if some things in this fic here don’t make sense to you (e.g. like Law thinking that bit about the shared understanding between him and Luffy is idiosyncratic to him when almost Every Other Straw-Hat lost someone dear to them in horrible ways too), that’s because this fic is written in Law’s perspective. I’m trying to imagine what he would think of the situation with only the information he has. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you liked it, leave kudos or comments, I love comments especially :> You can also come talk to me at my [tumblr](http://guilty-lights.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> [Time ended: 26th Aug 19, 12:44pm;– ]


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